Investigators believe turbulence from the wake of a jumbo jet may have led to the crash of the American Airlines aircraft in New York.
They hope the second black box from the crash will give vital clues about the cause of the disaster.
|
|
A New York firefighter examines the wreckage of Monday's plane crash
|
The inquiry had been delayed by a fault in the flight data recorder recovered from the wreckage of the American Airlines jet which plunged into the borough of Queens on Monday, killing 265 people.
The investigation was focusing on how the tail fin was ripped off the Airbus A300 seconds before the crash.
There was no immediate evidence of anything striking the fin before it broke off.
The possibility that turbulence from another aircraft may have been involved in the crash was also being examined.
A cockpit voice recorder indicated the pilots of the American Airlines flight had complained about the wake, or turbulence, of another plane before their jet went down.
Protocol decrees there should be at least two minutes between takeoffs. However, it appears there had been less than that between Flight 587 - an Airbus A300 - and a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 that left ahead of it from the same runway.
AP